Spring

I was enjoying the blue sky on our trip to the Y and back today. It reminded me of the things we wanted to do but were prevented by winter.

Spring brought out the bikes and motorcycles. The top also came off the jeep.

These things happened prematurely at times. Being young, a warm day in February would trigger these actions.

I headed out one morning on my street bike and ended up riding home in a snowstorm with my feet out like outrigger skis. Froze various extremities off on the way home in the jeep as well.

Fishing season, spring sports, and the emergence of different reptiles were some of the great things about spring. We also helped the neighbors with cutting and branding calves. This was a couple of days of getting kicked, smelling burnt hair, and getting covered in cow crap.

I can’t blame the calves for raising a fuss in the chutes. I’m pretty sure that getting horns broken off and cauterized as well as the branding iron were great motivators. Having your private parts removed also would cause concern.

Can we say Rocky Mountain oysters?

There were always early jeep outings through mud and unmelted snowbanks. Getting stuck was half the fun.

The grandfather of the local brewery owner was a well-known person in our area. We had one of the occasional April snowstorms hit and dumped almost a foot of snow on April Fool’s Day. I loved driving in fresh snow when younger and was driving my old Jeep over the heights when I found the grandfather with his pickup in the ditch and offered to help.

I hooked a chain to it but the truck was so much heavier than my Jeep that I was just spinning tires. I suggested that he drive my Jeep and I would try to push on the side of the truck to get it in a position to get out. We got lucky and it worked.

Within a week me pushing on the fender got slightly exaggerated. He told people “That big McLean kid lifted my pickup right out of the ditch!” He also bought me dinner a couple of times when he saw me in town. Country courtesy at its best!

I was in my late teens, and he seemed like an old man to me. He was probably younger than I am now by 5 years or so. Where did time go?

Enjoy the good weather while you can and remember those folks you knew as a kid who are no longer around. I learned a lot of things from the ones I knew, some good and some that probably got me in trouble. I treasure both types for providing life experience. I will have another tale of my adventures with little brother soon.

Bye for now.